By Liezelle Soriano
The Supreme Court has sentenced two human traffickers of life imprisonment after they have been found guilty of qualified human trafficking for peddling minors for sex.
The human traffickers, namely Rizalina Janario Gumba ang Gloria Buena Rellama was convicted of qualified human trafficking under Section 4(a), in relation to Section 6(a), of Republic Act No. 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended by RA 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.
The SC sustained the decision of the lower courts’ conviction of the said crime, specifically the trafficking of children for the purpose of prostitution.
According to SC, the accused were floor managers of a bar in Cavite where they hired victims AAA and BBB, both 15 years old, and PPP and GGG, both aged 18, and other young girls in their early 20s.
Upon the tip regarding the prostitution, undercover agents went to bar and Gumba and Rellma told the former that they could pay P1,500 to have sexual intercourse with the girls.
Few days after the undercover incident, police officers set the entrapment and rescue operation that led to the arrest of and filing of charges against the duo.
Aside from life imprisonment, Gumba and Rellama must also pay the fine of P2 million and pay the victims P500,000 for moral damages and P100,000 in exemplary damages each, both sums with six (6) percent legal interest per year.
(ai/mnm)
